Craziness over the weekend. It must be the weather. Spring sprang and we got silly!!

Danielle, Jaclyn and I had planned to check out a really unique festival in Eastern Nagano, called the Onbashira Festival. Danielle and I went last weekend and it was really interesting. The communities near Chino and Kami-Suwa Nagano replace the pillars at four of the area shrines once every 7 years. To do that, they cut down massive logs from the nearby forest and then drag them to the shrines... down hills, through town, across rivers- you name it. Men actually ride the logs- on additional "branches" that stick out on both ends so that they can rock it, see-saw style, to keep it moving over sticky spots. Apparently, the log pulling event is notorious for maiming/killing people who accidently get in the way. It is a major production and they've been doing it for over 1,000 years! There is a huge crowd of supporters/observers from all over the country as it is a relatively famous festival. If you can't quite imagine it (that was where I was at before seeing it), check out these pictures, which are much better than mine (due to the crowds).

Back to the story- we were going to go back and watch again, but by Friday evening, after a long party with the other teachers going to Kyoto on the school trip, I was too pooped and e-mailed them to say they could go without me. I got up Saturday and went roller-blading instead. Just as I hit the trail, I got an e-mail from Jaclyn saying that they'd gotten off the train on the way there and were hanging out in Matsumoto instead! I was a bit surprised, but finished rollerblading, took a shower, grabbed a PB & J and caught the train to meet them there. Our new mission was to go check out the cherry blossoms at Matsumoto Castle. They were beautiful and we spread out a tarp with the intent of reading/people watching under the cherry blossoms for the afternoon.

We weren't there for ten minutes before Jaclyn proposed that we jump on a train to Tokyo. I kid you not- I must admit, it was my idea- but she was actually serious about it. The amazing thing was that it only took her 15 minutes to convince us! We literally packed our stuff up and headed back to the train station and got on the next (2.5 hour) train to Tokyo! No clothing, no tooth brushes, Jaclyn was wearing flip-flops, and as I realized upon returning last night- I left with all my windows open and my door unlocked. Nothing like being completely spontaneous.... like I said, it must've been the weather.

Tom had literally just flown back from Shanghai so I got nervous that he wouldn't be home- fortunately he was and was completely surprised to see me. We dragged him out to a couple bars & danced/drank until the wee hours of the morning... with the occasional giggles in surprise that we'd just up & left!

Yesterday we celebrated Easter not with the 20 lovely eggs Jaclyn and Danielle had colored (sitting back in Jaclyn's fridge), but with lunch at TGIFriday's in Ginza. Not quite tradition... but it was Tokyo Easter. Jaclyn and Danielle headed back in the early afternoon (still in their smoky clubbing clothes), and I hung out long enough to do some quality window shopping and get a nice run in with Tom. It was a really fun, strange weekend!!

I leave at the crack of dawn on Wednesday to travel down to Kyoto with the entire 3rd grade (9th graders) for 3 days. It should be another adventure...!